Race report part 1 – preamble and swim

An Ironman is such an exciting event to be around and, as the day got closer, and race briefings, practice swims and pasta parties went by, the excitement – and nerves – really went up a notch.

On Saturday afternoon, we had to take our bikes into the transition to rack them up and hand over our T1 and T2 bags. This helped calm the nerves a little as I knew that I now had everything I needed and hadn't forgotten anything vital. Now it was just a case of resting up, eating and drinking.

The weather was playing on everybody's mind. It had dried up a little after the torrential rain of the past few days but the message was that we were going to receive a visit from Hurricane Katia as she passed by. The officials announced that the swim would change from the open South Beach which faces the Atlantic to the more secluded North Beach. 'If you do it on South Beach, you'll be fishing them out in body bags,' was an opinion I heard voiced by more than one local.

Fortunately, I'd slept well all week as on the Saturday night I slept very little at all – maybe two hours in total. But I was relatively calm and collected on the morning of the race, with the exception of leaving a drink bottle in the fridge which we had to go back for!

Bottles on bike, tyres pumped, final adjustments, wetsuit half on and I joined the hundreds of swimmers making their way across town to North Beach. The next few minutes flew by but I remember looking back up to the cliff top behind us and being blown away by the thousands of spectators who'd come out at the crack of dawn to cheer on us 1600 madmen (and ladies). The Welsh national anthem played and then 'BANG' – the cannon sounded and it was time to sttart becoming an Ironman.

The first buoy was away to the left and half of the swimmers ran down the beach in that direction in an attempt to shorten the swim out to the first buoy. I decided to follow local pro Oliver Simon straight in. The water was cold – 13C – but the adrenalin kicked in. However, it was also pretty rough and I was already being thrown about from side to side. I was glad to be a strong swimmer here because I wouldn't have liked to have tackled the waves and current while in the middle of the masses – at least I was able to get out toward the front.

I turned the first buoy and started out along the long 'back straight' of the swim and it was here that the current – against us all the way at this point – was at its strongest. I tried to settle into the swim, knowing it was going to be a long one, and found a couple of pairs of feet to follow, but doing so wasn't easy given the swell. Every few breaths, you'd turn your head to find it still underwater...a few strokes were missed entirely as all of a sudden there was either no water underneath me to pull in or too much above me to get my arm around...but I still made good progress passing other triathletes steadily.

Halfway along that back straight, I said to myself 'here it is mate, you're doing an Ironman!' I'd shortened my stroke to allow for the choppier waters and was starting to have fun but, just as I reached the last buoy before heading back to the beach, an epic cramp kicked in my left quad. I realised it'd have been caused by the cold so tried to stay calm, stretched the leg a little and kept it perfectly still for the next few minutes, which worked a treat.

Heading back towards the beach, the current was finally with us, making this section really quick and fun. I finally pulled myself up on to the sand after the first lap and started running along the beach to the point where we had to dive in and start the second lap. The crowds were going wild and I heard the announcer on the PA system say that we were coming out on around 23 minutes, which is super quick, so I knew I needed to slow it down a little on the second lap or I'd be suffering for the speed later in the day.

The second lap went really well. It was still a real battle against the elements but by then I'd hit as much of a rhythm as I was going to find in those conditions and had a few swimmers to draft off or follow. However, the quad cramp kicked in again halfway around. Again, I eased off, kept it still and it went but it felt tight, which wasn't good.

Getting out of the swim felt amazing, and it turns out I was through within the first 30 or so swimmers in a time of 50:00, which is amazing given the conditions, though I knew I had been swimming well. As we came off the beach, we had to climb a switchback walkway which ascended 150m to the town above. Due to the relocated swim, there was a mini transition here where we grabbed our trainers and then made the one mile run across Tenby to the proper transition area. There had been quite a bit of controversy and disillusionment about this long run to transition the day before but it soon became very obvious that, due to the difficulty of the course, IM Wales wasn't a course you did to record a good time but rather a tough one that you did to say you'd finished, and so the long transition became part of that challenge.

Since the race, almost everyone I've spoken to has insisted that in future years the organisers keep the swim on North Beach with the trainer transition and the 'Tenby Mile' run to T1. It was fun to do but also reward for the amazing throngs of spectators who came out to support us – I high fived my way almost the whole way through town.

Eventually, I got to T1 where I was made to feel very slow and clumsy. Being out of the water so quickly, I was right up there among (and even ahead of) pros and top age groupers, who steamed through their transition. I knew it was going to be a longer day ahead for me, so took my time putting on compression socks, arm warmers and making sure I had nutrition. Then it was time for the bike...